Birding BREWER and other Western Placer County roads -- Bruce Webb


Directions to Brewer Road, From the town of Lincoln which is on Highway 65, you can drive West on Nicolaus Road (follow the signs to the Lincoln Airport and then keep going west) to Brewer Road. Brewer Road runs N-S down the extreme western edge of Placer County.  To get there from Highway 99, take Marcum Road to just past the Sutter/Placer county line where it changes names to Brewer Road.  Or from Riego at Highway 99 take Baseline Road in Southeastern Placer County to Brewer Road, go north along Brewer Road to Nicolaus Road.  All of Brewer Road is interesting.

In recent years, returning McCown's, Chestnut-collared and Lapland longspurs have been found in the rice stubble field area along Brewer Road approximately 0.8 mile north of Nicolaus Road.  They have been found in late fall through early spring, affording some interesting opportunities to see birds in near full alternate plumage.  The usual scenario applies -- check the Horned Lark flocks.  Frequently, Prairie Falcons, Merlins, Kestrels and Northern Harriers course over these fields, stirring up the larks and longspurs.  Occasionally, longspurs have been seen with larks feeding in the road.  A spotting scope is necessary to find these birds in the fields.  There are side "tracks" for walking in two places that can get you closer to the birds and possibly better lighting.  Absentee landowners have been very tolerant of birders walking in these particular fields.  The longspurs have been seen well into February-March, the greening-up period.

In winter, huge numbers of Snow and White-fronted Geese, Tundra Swans occur here and in adjacent Sutter County.  No surprise then that Bald Eagles are frequently seen here, too.  When the fields are flooded from rains, swan flocks should be carefully checked.  One Trumpeter Swan family and one Bewick's Swan have been seen in this area.   Evening drives along this road can yield up to one Barn Owl/per mile, (and fewer Short-eared Owls) especially after heavy rains when rodents have been flooded out of their burrows.

In winter, scan the abundant flocks of Savannah and White-crowned Sparrows for the occasional Vesper or Grasshopper Sparrow (one record). This is a great place to study what appears to be more than one race of Savannah sparrow. In the ditches and rice fields one can find American Bittern, and Virginia and Sora rails.

From Lincoln, there are several other excellent birding roads that run E-W direction. Birders are encouraged to try Moore Road, south of town, especially where Moore Road crosses Auburn Ravine Creek. The first county record of Least Flycatcher and two records of Blackpoll Warbler have occurred in the trees along Auburn Ravine Creek near where the bridge crosses the creek. This was one of those fall migration days when migrants were abundant in the oaks and creekside vegetation. If you see or hear peafowl along Auburn Ravine, you are probably seeing just a few of the dozens of peafowl that occur in this area.

Other bird rich roads include Dowd Road (N-S), Sunset and Wise Roads (both E-W). If you venture east on Wise Road, past Highway 65, toward the foothills, eventually you will reach Evans-Reimer road where the first county record of Brown Thrasher was found by Brian Williams in 1995. Many birders saw this Thrasher during its prolonged stay. In this area, where oaks and olive orchards abound, Band-tailed Pigeon, and Phainopepla can be found.

 

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Good Birding !

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